Winning With a Customer-Centric Sales Culture at Rainforest QA

We have a fantastic sales team here at Rainforest, made up of a collaborative group of people, who work on complex use cases to help teams create faster, more effective QA processes. We wanted to learn more about what makes our sales culture unique, so we sat down with Ryan Basch, Mid-Market Sales Manager, to discuss how Rainforest sells the Rainforest platform, and how B2B sales can benefit from a personal touch.

We sell to a diverse B2B audience, and work with a wide range of prospective buyers — from QA testers and QEs all the way up to CTOs. How does our sales process speak to that audience effectively?

We prioritize understanding what our prospects are trying to achieve with development and product quality, not just their QA process. Many teams come to us without having a clear idea of what they want from their QA workflow and tooling, and it’s our job to help get them there.

We tailor the Rainforest experience to the user’s needs and concerns. If we’re sharing the platform with a QA team, we want them to know that Rainforest is not their replacement, but rather support for offloading many of the repetitive tasks they do so they can focus on more strategic initiatives. If we’re talking to a developer, we focus on exploring how Rainforest integrates testing into their workflow, so they can spend more time developing new product features instead of testing. When we’re speaking to a CTO, we focus on how Rainforest will help them hit their business goals.

How does Rainforest’s company core values impact our sales philosophy?

Rainforest’s values are a part of everything we do, they’re who we are. We want to earn our prospects’ trust and show them what we have to offer. That starts with learning about the individuals we are selling to — from their biggest pain points at work to what they care about outside of the office. One way we help establish this connection is to encourage as much face time as possible. We try to have video calls or, when we can, in-person chats with our prospects as often as possible.

We have a ‘No BS’ policy to pitching our platform. It’s important to set the right expectations about what Rainforest can (and can’t) do to make a difference to their quality goals. The last thing we want to do is get someone excited about using the platform, to then have them feel disappointed when they start using it.

The relationship with our prospects doesn’t end once they become customers, it continues. We work closely with the onboarding and customer success teams, especially in the first few months, advocating the goals they want to achieve with Rainforest.

How would you describe the culture of the Rainforest sales team in particular?

Team camaraderie is key to the culture of the sales team at Rainforest. We really want each other to succeed. Everyone in the sale organization at Rainforest roots for each other and is always willing to hop on calls to help one another.

This isn’t limited to the sales team — whether it’s product managers and developers or seasoned customer success managers, the entire Rainforest team is always willing to take time to speak with our prospects. I’m always impressed with how Rainforesters from all over the world are willing to pitch in to ensure the best experience possible.

Speaking of the team beyond Sales, we have a team of onboarding managers, customer success managers and professional services providers who all play a role in building successful customers. How are they involved in the sales process?

Our team has a ton of experience with QA that goes much farther than the product itself. What makes us unique is our experience with building amazing QA processes and strategies.

We want to involve our CSMs in conversations with prospects as early as possible, to show them how much of an impact we can collectively have on the the success of their QA strategy, in addition to successfully using the Rainforest platform.

What else should teams know about sales at Rainforest?

We celebrate wins together, and we learn from losses. I don’t see losses as failures, as long as we can learn from them. Most of all, it’s important for the team to feel we are all in this together!

Learn More About Sales at Rainforest

Rainforest is growing, and we’re always looking to add new folks to our sales team! To learn more about working at Rainforest and to view open roles on the Sales team, check out the Rainforest Careers page.